Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: A Romance Novel Podcast
626 episodes - English - Latest episode: 19 days ago - ★★★★★ - 322 ratingsEach week on Smart Podcast, Trashy Books, Sarah Wendell interviews authors, readers, reviewers, bloggers, publishing professionals, editors, and librarians about romance novels, which are among the most popular genres in fiction worldwide. Popular guests include: Ilona Andrews, Robin Bradford, NPR's Barrie Hardymon, Chuck Tingle, Sarah J. Maas, and Rachel Aaron. Amanda Diehl, co-pilot of the SS Smart Bitches, makes regular appearances with maximum silliness, especially during our Romantic Times Rewind episodes, where we take a look at old issues of Romantic Times Magazine (1981-2018). Frequent topics include romance novels, the way the genre is changing, and the brilliant and interesting people who read, write, and produce it, and issues common among romance readers. Plus, we always recommend some books we're reading and really enjoying. Learn more at SB-TB.com/Podcast. Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
326. Empowerment, Divorce, and Romance: An Interview with Catherine Bybee
November 23, 2018 07:00 - 1 hourToday I’m chatting with New York Times bestselling author Catherine Bybee. We discuss her latest book, Chasing Shadows, and we also talk about her career as a writer, and the elements she combines in her stories, particularly her latest series. Among the topics we cover:- writing chosen families and found families of friends- advice she’d give her past self when she started out- how reframing some pejorative terms used to describe women can lead to a series plot- starting over after a divorce...
325. “The Most Brilliant Storytelling I’ve Ever Seen:” Courtney Milan and Yuri!!! on Ice
November 16, 2018 07:00 - 57 minutesOf all the things I could talk to Courtney Milan about, I think the best topic would be…figure skating. Specifically, Yuri!!! On Ice. Yuri!!! on Ice is an anime that contains multitudes, and it has been making Courtney happy for awhile now. So I asked her to tell me all about Yuri!!! on Ice. We discuss what she loves about the show, and how the narrative structure of Yuri!!! has illuminated for her elements of storytelling that frustrate her as a romance writer. Note: we do talk a bit about ...
324. Cathartic Video Games and Problematic Shipping: Amanda and Sarah Catch Up on Listener Email
November 09, 2018 07:00 - 1 hourAmanda talks about what is rocking her world, from volunteering opportunities to video games she loves. Spoiler: she’s hilarious. I talk about a book that I’m super curious about that involves death cleaning. Then we talk about some listener email! We have email from a reader who loves their home library and has some thoughts on long-running series, a reader who struggles with a problematic ship (paging Amanda, white courtesy phone for Amanda), and a reader who needs some bi romance recommend...
323. A Big Gay Fiction Interview with Jeff Adams and Will Knauss
November 02, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourThis week I’m chatting with Jeff Adams and Will Knauss of the Big Gay Fiction Podcast. You’ll never guess what that podcast is about. We talk about how they met, what brought them to starting a podcast, and what brought them to reading romance. We discuss their favorite tropes, and the magic of discovering the common elements of your reader catnip - which you probably know is one of my favorite things. We also touch on: - Reading and listening vs reading OR listening. - How you read and if t...
322. Breaking Up with Damaging Conventions in Romance: A Conversation with Kate Cuthbert
October 26, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourToday I’m chatting with Kate Cuthbert. Until very recently, Kate was the Managing Editor of Escape Publishing, Harlequin Australia. This was recorded while she still worked in that position. She’s recently accepted a new position as the Program Manager at Writers Victoria, the Victoria Australia state-wide professional organization for writers. Congrats! Kate recently gave a keynote speech at Romance Writers of Australia that received a lot of attention after it was posted online. She address...
321. Royals Both Real and Fictional, with Lindsay Emory
October 19, 2018 06:00 - 58 minutesThis week I’m chatting with author and podcaster Lindsay Emory about royalty - both the royalty in her new book The Royal Runaway, and about the way many many people are interested in contemporary royalty around the world. We talk about why so many people are curious about royal families, and how it’s a slightly different kind of celebrity culture to follow - and we talk a bit about celebrity encounters we’ve had. We also discuss her new book, her creation of a country in which to place her r...
320. Deep Diving in our OTPs with Amanda, Elyse, and Sarah
October 12, 2018 06:00 - 59 minutesThis week, we’re talking about shipping literally and figuratively!Do you stan Dramione? Have a lifelong thing for Jareth and Sarah? Platinum blond antiheroes are your jam? Adam Driver in reallllly high waisted pants? Kataang or Zukara? Prince Diamond or Tuxedo Mask? This week’s episode is all for you. Amanda, Elyse, and I are talking OTPs, our One True Pairings. We talk about our favorite ships, the pairings that always work for us, and what they reveal about our reading catnip. Often ...
319. Realistic Characters and Even More Realistic Settings: An Interview with Sarah Morgan
October 05, 2018 06:00 - 57 minutesToday I’m chatting with Sarah Morgan, who I’ve known for a while now, and interviewed on the podcast before. Her latest book, The Christmas Sisters, is out, so we talk about her latest novel, and the strange vagaries of staggered releases for books, which often happens too her titles between the US and the UK and elsewhere. Because this is Sarah’s 85th book, we talk a good bit about writing, both the discipline and the routine she follows as well as the strategies for setting and character. H...
318. Sharp Academics and Paranormal Romance: An Interview with Kelly Baker, PhD, and Tressie McMillan Cottom, PhD
September 28, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourToday I’m talking with two nifty academics, so get ready to maybe take notes. I’m talking with Tressie McMillan Cottom, PhD, sociology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Kelly Baker, PhD, who studies racist politics, sexism in the academy, white supremacy, and zombies.Both are writers, and both are major fans of paranormal romance. They snuck paranormal romances to read during grad school, they hid their love of romances, and dealt with being shunned and shamed for loving the ...
317. Time May Not Be Linear: An Interview with Nicola Cornick
September 21, 2018 13:30 - 1 hourToday I’m chatting with author Nicola Cornick, whose newest timeslip novel, The Phantom Tree, recently kept Elyse and I reading nonstop. In this interview, we talk about the transition she made from writing romance to writing historical fiction, and the challenge and opportunity of basing historical fiction on a real person, and placing her amid fictional characters. We also discuss the real challenges of being an unprotected woman in the Tudor era, the ways in which people really have not ch...
316. Sarah and Amanda Talk Book Nesting and Re-Reading Series
September 14, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourAmanda and I catch up now that Amanda has moved into her new apartment - and unpacked probably a thousand books. Then we talk about Amanda’s current adventure re-reading a series she’s not enjoying, but continuing to read. We discuss the ending of series we’ve started, why we tapped out, and why we sometimes keep reading despite our own preferences. We ask important questions, such as: What are your stopping points in a series as a reader? What makes you stop reading a series - or keep readin...
315. Intercepted with Alexa Martin
September 07, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourToday I get to chat with a debut author, Alexa Martin, about her upcoming book, Intercepted, which comes out on the 11th of September.Intercepted is very much inspired by her own life as the spouse of an NFL player, and by her affectionate love of Real Housewives, and her very real friends from various NFL team communities. We talk about her start in Pitch Wars, her rewrites of the original story, and her own experiences which found their way into the book. We talk about being an NFL wife and...
314. Talking Travel with RedHeadedGirl and Sonja Rouillard
August 31, 2018 06:00 - 47 minutesThis week, RedHeadedGirl and I are interviewing Sonja Rouillard, author of the Romance Readers Guide to Historic London. We talk about the origin story to the travel guide, and how it helped RedHeadedGirl’s own trip to London. We learn about what locations may be next for her next edition, and what research is like when building a reader-focused travel guide. And we also talk about travel and favorite places. RedHeadedGirl asks a question that I’ve been having a good time pondering, too: If ...
313. Tracking Changes: An Interview with Bowling Green Browne Pop Culture Library Archivist Steve Ammidown
August 24, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourIn this episode, I’m chatting with Steve Ammidown, who is the Manuscripts and Outreach Archivist at the Browne Popular Culture Library at Bowling Green. We talk about what Steve’s job means, what he does, and what the Browne Popular Culture Library has within its collection. Board games, liquor decanters, promotional items, pogs, pins, cookbooks, marketing ephemera, books, and many, many other cool things live in the Pop Culture Library. We discuss some of the most interesting parts of the co...
312. Unruly Women, Camouflaging Misogyny, and Controlling Our Narratives: An Interview with Anne Helen Petersen
August 17, 2018 06:00 - 58 minutesThe paperback edition of Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of Unruly Women came out on August 7th, and I had the opportunity to ask author Anne Helen Peterson about the book, and about her work on celebrity, the narrative of image, and how women are seizing control of their own stories. Her book is about unruly women who disrupt the world around them in unique and powerful ways, and our conversation is about how women continue to disrupt. We talk about political unruliness, ce...
311. A Nerdy Bookish Deep Dive into My Oxford Year with Julia Whelan
August 10, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourAfter we recorded our interview about My Oxford Year, author Julia Whelan asked if I ever did more spoiler-heavy analytical conversations about books after they’re published. Well, we do now! In this episode, we do a deep-dive into the book, the themes and Easter eggs hidden within it, and the structural and stylistic decisions that went into the creation of the story. If you haven’t read it and you think you might want to, beware of all the spoilers herein. We talk poetry, and the reasons to...
310. Heroine Sociopaths and Emotional Suspense: An Interview with Victoria Helen Stone
August 03, 2018 06:30 - 53 minutesFirst: my apologies. In this recording, Victoria sounds terrific. I’m somewhere underwater, and predominantly on the right side. Egads. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but I apologize in advance. But hey, this conversation is so interesting because of what she has to say!Victoria Helen Stone, also known as romance author Victoria Dahl, has a new book out, Jane Doe [bookmention slug="jane-doe"]. I read it in one sitting - it was terrifyingly good. Her heroine, Jane, is a self-acknowledged socio...
309. Cards Against Romance Tropes: Our Live Show at RWA!
July 27, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourAlisha Rai and Melonie Johnson joined me for our live show at RWA 2018, where we played a very limited edition game, Cards Against Romance Tropes. We start with my learning that Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series is being adapted for Netflix by Shonda Rimes. Then we start the games! Alisha Rai is captain of Team Kale, and Melonie Johnson is captain of Team Donut. It’s a little echo-y, which is my fault. Apologies. Special thanks to: The staff at RWA, especially Steph Fry and Carol Ritter, who...
308. Sarah and Amanda are Terrible at Watching TV (But We Talk About it Anyway)
July 20, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourAmanda tweeted that she’s terrible at watching tv, which is something I’ve said about myself many, many times. When I asked her about it, we started a long conversation about series, storytelling in pieces, trusting the storyteller and fearing enjoyment.We talk about investing time, energy, empathy, and attention in tv shows, and watching series with another person who holds us accountable. We also touch on the difficulties in selecting things to enjoy when there is so much to watch, and so m...
307. Witnessing History and the Vital Reassurance of Romance: An Interview with Jessica Luther
July 13, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourToday I’m chatting with Jessica Luther, author of the book Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape. She’s also one of the hosts of the feminist sports podcast Burn It All Down. Jessica’s writing covers the intersection of sports and sexual and gendered violence. I’ve been following Jessica on Twitter for a very long time, as we connected over loving the romance genre years ago. Since then, her career has been incredible, and I was so happy she was willing to talk a...
306. Historical Gossip and Useful Women: An Interview with Darcie Wilde
July 06, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourToday I’m chatting with Darcie Wilde, author of the Rosalind Thorne mystery series. Rosalind is the heroine of the series, and in the first book, A Useful Woman, she finds herself in reduced circumstances after her father ruins the family and runs off, taking Rosalind’s sister with her, and leaving Rosalind to care for her mother and figure out a way forward for herself. Rosalind’s story is heavily based in Regency history and in research, and - this is the fun part - a lot of gossip. Dur...
305. More from RT 2018: There Are Some Books Around Here, and Some Creepy Dolls
June 29, 2018 06:00 - 50 minutesIt’s time for part two of my recordings from Romantic Times 2018. We’re chatting about RT while we were still there over lunch and wine - ah, the delays of extensive editing. We have several meandering conversations - and some bits you may have heard in our live show, too. We talk about books, our pets, books, publisher news at RT, and random other things.We cover why the hitman plot works for Elyse but not for Sarah, and why Elyse thinks m/m spy and adventure stories are popular. I ask Aman...
304. “You Have a Type and it Might be Mullets” – Sarah, Amanda, and Elyse are VERY Silly About Books and Villainy
June 22, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourIf you’ve ever wondered what it’s like when we hang out in a room together, well, this episode is for you. And if you need a lot of silly laughter, this is definitely the episode for you. While we were at Romantic Times BookLovers Convention in May, we recorded two podcasts, which I should not ever do again because it makes the editing quite a challenge. This is Part one, which is Incredibly Silly. We recorded after dinner one night, s o we’re Sleepy and Goofy (and perhaps also Doc and Dopey...
303. There is So Much Heroism and Good in People: An Interview with Laura Bradbury
June 15, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourTISSUE WARNING: this episode might make you cry. I got teary while recording it. Today I’m talking with author Laura Bradbury about her memoirs, her new novella project, and her liver transplant. I met Laura at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference in British Columbia, Canada, several years ago when they had me as an international guest. Laura had just published her first memoir, My Grape Escape, and was honored with an award during the conference. Her speech was incredibly memorable a...
302. The Value of Talking To Book People: Amanda Reports on BEA and BookCon 2018
June 08, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourFresh from the fresh hell that is the Javits Center, Amanda and Sarah chat about Amanda’s adventures at BEA, better known as Book Expo America, and BookCon, which happened last week. Sometimes I can record, edit, and produce an episode in a few days, and I’m lucky to be able to do that this week. We talk about what BEA and BookCon are, what the differences are between them, and what or, more specifically, who each one is for. Amanda talked about some of her experiences at BEA and her experien...
301. Making Up Stories With Theatrical Inspiration : An Interview with Lucy Parker
June 01, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourThis week I’m chatting with author Lucy Parker, who wrote some of my recent favorite contemporary romances (you might have heard me talk about Act Like It once or twice?). She’s just signed a new contract for new books in this series, so of course I ask for details. I also came to this interview armed with questions from the Patreon community, and their questions are terrific. We also talk a lot about her newest book, Making Up, which came out on 28 May, and we discuss how she develops charac...
300. Our Live Show at RT: Chatting and Romance Feud
May 25, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourIt's our 300th Episode! Robin Bradford, Amanda, Elyse and I hosted a live recording of the podcast at RT 2018, and now it’s here for everyone’s enjoyment as our 300th episode! If we were tv we’d be well into nonstop TNT syndication. A few things you should know: First, there was wine, because people are noble and good. Second, there are three parts. In Part 1, we talk about what the closing of RT means for Robin and other librarians, and what we’d enjoyed at RT thus far. We also talked about ...
299. On Blogging and Publishing: An Interview with Thea James and Ana Grilo, The Book Smugglers
May 18, 2018 06:00 - 58 minutesToday I’m speaking with Ana Grilo and Thea James, who are better known as The Book Smugglers. They’re bloggers, writers, authors, and editors - and at the helm of Book Smugglers Publishing. We talk about how they got their start, and the role the Lost forums played in bringing them together (along with a few blogs you may have heard of).Among the topics we cover:What they look for in science fiction and speculative fictionMaking the transition from blogging and reviewing to acquiring, editing...
298. Being Brave: An Interview with Talia Hibbert
May 11, 2018 06:00 - 59 minutesToday I’m chatting with Talia Hibbert, author of Wanna Bet, A Girl Like Her, and other books that have been receiving a lot of positive exclamation points online. She’s been writing while finishing an English degree, so we talk about what led her to writing romance, and how her great grandmother inspired her to write what she’d been longing to write. “I wanted to be brave like her.”Among the topics we cover: - Challenging the status quo by telling stories - The incredible allure of heroes in ...
297. Song of Blood and Stone: An Interview with Leslye Penelope
May 04, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourEpisode 297 Get bonus content on Patreon Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
296. Acting, Narrating, and Writing: An Interview with Julia Whelan
April 27, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourToday I’m interviewing Julia Whelan, author of the new book, My Oxford Year, which just came out this week, on April 24, 2018. This is a full score production: dogs barking! Car horns! The street sounds of midtown Manhattan! We cover her start as a child actor, and how she moved through acting to audiobook narration to writing screenplays and then a novel. Among the topics we discuss:What makes a good narration?What are the differences between screenplays and novels?How does being an audioboo...
295. Inclusive History, Magical Writing, and Fan Art: An Interview with KJ Charles
April 20, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourThis week I am chatting with editor and author KJ Charles about lots and lots of different things. She started out as a Mills & Boon editor and then moved to writing, so she has a lot of perspective on the writing and edition process. We discuss plot, character, use of language, editing, and writing romance, especially in various historical periods.Some of the audio is a bit muddy in the recording, and my apologies for that.We discuss what plot and structure are doing in a story, and spend ev...
294. Women in Aussie Rules Football: A Chat with Amy Andrews, Catherine Evans, and Nicola Marsh
April 13, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourToday we are talking women in Aussie Rules Football, and romance heroines who are professional football players. You ready for this? Harlequin Escape recently published a trilogy of novels with heroines who all play for the Australian Rules Football Women’s League. This is a real thing - the AFLW (Australian Football League Women’s) began in February 2017 and has been a massive success in Australia. A professional football league for women! For the romance series based on the AFLW, Amy Andrew...
293: The Elements of Surprise: Untwisting the Twist with Vera Tobin, PhD
April 06, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourEvery now and again on Facebook, I learn that friends of mine from kindergarten are doing really really cool stuff. Today I’m chatting with Vera Tobin, a professor of cognitive science at Case Western, and author of the upcoming book, The Elements of Surprise, which comes out on April 16, 2018. Her book is all about how the surprises, tw ists, and unexpected revelations we love in fiction actually work on our brains cognitively. In her work, she breaks down the different ways in which we proc...
292. Amanda and Sarah Visit With Audiobooks
March 30, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourAmanda and I are here together, and we’re talking about audiobooks! We start with truly important topics, like her cat, Linus, and then we move on to all things audiobook. We’ve both found audiobooks perfect for our brains at the moment, though we do different tasks while we listen. We discuss finding audiobooks and discovering what types of audiobooks work for us, and why, including important questions such as:Wait, are you saying Richard Armitage is narrating this book?Which is better, one ...
291. Encouraging Readers and Fostering Confidence: An Interview with Margaret H. Willison
March 23, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourToday I’m talking with Margaret H. Willison, who is one of the Two Bossy Dames newsletter, a podcaster at Appointment Television, and a frequent fourth chair on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour. We talk about a LOT of different things. I want to start with a trigger warning as we have a discussion about workplace sexual harassment, especially in public-facing jobs such as in a library. We talk about confidence, intelligence, and choosing the right handle on AIM and Twitter, we discuss the separat...
290. The Art and Magic of Designing Book Covers: An Interview with Regina Flath
March 16, 2018 06:00 - 1 hourToday I am speaking with Regina Flath, Designer, Illustrator, and book cover designer at Random House Children’s Books. This podcast was suggested by a listener named Hannah, who heard Regina Flath speak at a panel at NY ComicCon. Regina is a designer who specializes in YA covers - and her bio is adorable. It says she’s “100% constructed from witchcraft, yarn, sewing needles, and snacks. She’s a friend to imaginary creatures everywhere.” Regina is also the designer behind some very popular co...
289. Intimacy, Trust, and Consent: An Interview with Mona Darling, Kink Coach and Pro Domme
March 09, 2018 07:00 - 1 hourAmanda and I interview Mona Darling, who is a professional dominatrix, kink coach, BDSM mentor, and sexual adventure coach. She was introduced by Thien-Kim Lam - thank you, Thien-Kim! So first and foremost: content warning and trigger warning for explicit discussions of sexual kink, sexual practice, and rape fantasy. We talk about how she got her start and how her business works, including the differences between working at a house vs being an independent domme. We have a very interesting con...
288. Tweeting About Romance History: An Interview with Elisabeth Lane of Cooking Up Romance
March 02, 2018 07:00 - 56 minutesThis is a podcast episode inspired by Twitter. If it’s on Twitter, it’s not quite oral history but it’s close?After a Twitter history thread of hers went viral within the romance community online, I asked Elisabeth Lane, the blogging and cooking genius behind Cooking Up Romance if she’d talk to me on the podcast about it. We start by talking about food and romance, her own recipe development, and her reading, reviewing, cooking, and blogging process. Then we turn to her Twitter thread whic ...
287. Take Risks and Keep Going: An Interview with Lorraine Heath
February 23, 2018 07:00 - 55 minutesToday I’m chatting with Lorraine Heath, bestselling author of more than 70 books over 25 years in writing romance. We talk about her titles in historical romance, contemporary and paranormal YA, how publishing has changed a little over the years, and of course we discuss her newest book, Beyond Scandal and Desire.We talk about writing as a craft and process, too: you’ll learn what advice Ms. Heath would give her writer self when she started out, and what advice she’d give to a writer just sta...
286. The Importance of Friendship, Writing, Great Lipstick, and Romance: An Interview with Jasmine Guillory
February 16, 2018 07:00 - 1 hourToday, I’m chatting with debut author Jasmine Guillory. Since we recorded this interview, The Wedding Date has come out, and it was a USA Today bestseller - congratulations, Jasmine! We talk about the excitement of pre-release and the stress of balancing book releases with real life, and what brought Jasmine to reading and writing romance. Some of her favorite books involve characters who lead busy lives and love their careers, which informed her own writing as well. Jasmine tells us about:Wr...
285. Labyrinth, Girl Scout Cookies, and Good Book Noise: An Interview with S. Jae-Jones
February 09, 2018 07:00 - 1 hourAmanda and I interview S. Jae-Jones, also known as JJ, about pretty much everything. Ready to learn? JJ was kind enough to answer all our nosy questions and our conversation was a LOT of fun. We cover a bunch of topics, including:How being an editorial assistant prepared her for a career as an author - and what secret knowledge (not really secret) she shares with fellow writers. How Labyrinth, Phantom of the Opera, the myth of Hades and Persephone, The Magic Flute, fanfic communities, and fan...
284. Romance, Mystery, and the Cuban Revolution: An Interview with Chanel Cleeton
February 02, 2018 07:00 - 58 minutesThis week, I’m interviewing author Chanel Cleeton about her new book, Next Year in Havana, a dual-timeline mystery and romance set in part against the Cuban revolution. Don’t worry - no spoilers! We talk about the cover, which we hosted a reveal for because it’s simply stunning. We discuss the origin of the book, the ways in which her family influenced the story, and the intricacies created by including political nuance and multiple historical perspectives in multiple timelines. Chanel tells ...
283. Making Friends and Finding Bisexual Romance Characters: Recommendations and Advice from Amanda & Sarah
January 26, 2018 07:00 - 57 minutesAmanda and I have a lot to talk about in this episode! First, we chat about the recent episode of The Bachelor that we recapped for Smart Bitches (it was TWO HOURS y’all), and what we (might have) learned about the series by watching one episode. (Clearly, we are now unquestionable experts. *Unquestionable* experts!) We then answer a request for advice from Katie, who is looking to make new friends in her new home outside Atlanta. We talk about the process of making new friends, making dates ...
282. Sleuthing, Victorian Women, and Dick Jokes: A Conversation with Deanna Raybourn
January 19, 2018 07:00 - 1 hourA Treacherous Curse, the third book in the Veronica Speedwell series is out, so I chat with Deanna Raybourn about the book, the series, and more. We start with dick jokes because obviously, but we also talk about writing mysteries, research, dealing with grief in characters, and the perils of sleuthing. We also discuss similarities and differences between mysteries and romances, and the spaces that are created by women-centered stories in both genres. Get bonus content on Patreon Our GDPR p...
281. Alyssa Cole and Alisha Rai: Romance and the Resistance from Politics and Prose
January 12, 2018 07:00 - 1 hourHooray! Thanks to Politics and Prose on the Wharf, I have the audio of the November 29, 2017, panel with Alisha Rai and Alyssa Cole. We talk about their favorite scenes in one another’s books, and which character is an homage to Alisha’s dating life (heads up for the Alisha Rai Dating Story Fans, we have a great one in here). We also discuss joy, romance, and the ambition of happiness as elements of resistance, how to persevere with happiness when things around you are bleak, and what happens...
280. We Look Ahead to 2018
January 05, 2018 07:00 - 46 minutesAmanda, Carrie, Elyse, Redheadedgirl and I look forward to many, many things in 2018, most of them books. Amanda has a recommendation for a book she really liked that came out on January 2, but I made her wait for the 2018 podcast because I’m terrible. We take a quick glance at the current rankings of the Chris list, Redheadedgirl takes a look at the movies she’s very much looking forward to, and we discuss the best options at Michael’s to keep your collection of hearts on display. And then, ...
279. The Bitches Look Back at 2017
December 29, 2017 07:00 - 56 minutesAmanda, Carrie, Elyse, RedHeadedGirl and I sit down to look back at 2017, the things we enjoyed and treasured, and the books we loved that got us through the year. We talk a little about the high-grade, high-potency medicinal romances we discovered this year, and what authors we count on for that kind of read. We cover movies, music, and other uplifting pieces of entertainment that give us a lift this year. Expect many recommendations! Get bonus content on Patreon Our GDPR privacy policy wa...
278. Another Round of Your Recommendation Requests with Sarah and Amanda
December 22, 2017 07:00 - 1 hourSarah and Amanda take on your reader rec requests! We’ve got historical romances, historical fantasy with knitting, Jewish protagonists, heroines who save the hero, terminology to find the books you’re looking for, romances about single mothers, and historical erotica with menage. Amanda asks after Sarah’s romance writing, and, as expected, we talk about a lot of books. A lot. Of Books. Chance of cat and dog during the podcast? 85%! Get bonus content on Patreon Our GDPR privacy policy was u...
277. Retelling Rapunzel in Mumbai: An Interview with Sonali Dev
December 15, 2017 07:00 - 1 hourAuthor Sonali Dev is back with us to talk about her new book - and here are some words in a very tempting order: a retelling of Rapunzel set in Mumbai. Her latest, A Distant Heart, comes out on 12/26, and we talk about the story, the angst level, and how these two characters came to be. We also discuss the common elements between this book and her last novel, A Change of Heart, and what she’s working on now. There’s a great odd moment when I misread the cover art immensely, but apparently I’m...